Astrology for Beginners
by Latewithcoffee
Summary: It's 2018, and the world has changed. The halls of Hogwarts are filled with POC students, and some of them have their own ideas about what is and isn't "good magic." Starring Pavarti Patil and Aurora Sinistra as mentors who help bullied and different students love themselves, respect each other, and, of course, learn Astrology!


_Welcome to_ Astrology for Beginners _! Have you ever read_ Harry Potter _and wondered, where are all the non-white wizards? Since the original series was published, JK Rowling has gradually been adding to her world (_ Pottermore, Fantastic Beasts, The Cursed Child _), including more details about wizarding and magic around the globe. I'm using information about the eight (of a total eleven) confirmed Wizarding Schools, demographic information about the United Kingdom, research about the real life mythologies and histories of various cultures, and current politics to imagine POC student life at Hogwarts. I'm also using real Astrology, and I hope you enjoy learning the subject alongside your new wizard friends. :)_

 _This story is set in the era of_ Cursed Child _and attempts to be as canon as possible. It stars an expanded side character, African-born Aurora Sinistra the Astronomy teacher, a grown-up Pavarti Patil, and Cho Chang's half-muggle daughter, Turandot, with more original characters to come. Eventually this story will span an entire school year — I have big plans for these babes! I am trying to do my homework, stay in my lane, and be open to rewrites, so please feel free to message me with comments, complaints, or advice!_

Pavarti Patil puzzled over the latest letter from her close friend and mentor, Sybill Trelawney. Sybill, a generally paranoid person, had scratched out many lines of text with a thick quill and even ripped out entire sections with, it seemed, her teeth. The corner of the envelope was wrinkled and discolored, as if something had been spilled on it. On closer inspection, the something smelled suspiciously like cooking sherry. Even Sybill's scrawling handwriting, difficult to read on a good day, was totally indecipherable. Squinting, Pavarti could make out some key words: _"danger," "incoming students,"_ " _nightmares,"_ _"please come."_

Sighing, Pavarti put the letter down. Her former professor was known for her theatrics and outlandish predictions. In fact, this reputation was responsible for her predicament now. Once Minerva McGonagall became the Headmaster of Hogwarts, her long-held disdain for Divination led to Sybill's classes being cut from the curriculum. However, out of respect for the late Dumbledore's affection for the offbeat professor and Sybill's role in the Battle of Hogwarts, McGonagall had retained Sybill as a school counselor and allowed her to remain living in the North tower.

Now Sybill's job was to provide emotional support for the students at Hogwarts; no easy feat, following the horrors many young witches and wizards went through during the Second Wizarding War. Witnessing the deaths of their classmates, losing family and loved ones, and fretting over the future of their school had created an entire generation of students who required a soothing touch. At first, Sybill had seemed perfectly suited to this new role, inviting students into the former Divination Classroom to lounge on cushions, enjoy her extensive collection of aromatherapy scents, and talk about their feelings.

However, 22 years had passed since the battle and Sybill's visitors had slowed to a trickle. Nowadays most of the students who sought help from Sybill were referred from Madam Pomfrey, who was better at healing broken bones than broken hearts. Even so, the few times Pavarti had visited Hogwarts since her graduation she had gotten the sense that many of the students Sybill worked with were reluctant to visit her and felt they had been unfairly pawned off to a hack because Hogwarts did not know how to deal with their emotional problems. Compounding the problem was Sybill's failing mental health and creeping alcoholism. In fact, the last time Pavarti had visited Sybill, she had felt unsure if she would ever return. It hurt to see her former idol in such a dejected state.

Still, Pavarti felt an unflagging sense of loyalty to her school and her mentor. Sybill's constant reassurance and flattery about Pavarti's abilities as a seer had gotten her through trying times in her school years. Furthermore, Sybil was one of the people who had been closest to her departed best friend Lavender and had even tried to save her during the Battle of Hogwarts by dropping crystal balls on Fenrir Greyback as the werewolf was mauling her to death. Pavarti's eyes welled up as she remembered this particular detail. Yes, she decided, Sybill deserved to be taken seriously. Even if her mind was slipping, her heart was pure.

Pavarti carefully folded the letter and put it back in its envelope. The message had come at an opportune time. Pavarti's job at the Cliodne Shelter for Magical Animals had recently granted her paid leave due to an injury she'd sustained from an encounter with an unregistered werewolf. Though a long stay at St. Mungo's had left her with nothing more serious than a limp, her boss was also sensitive to her traumatic history with werewolves and told her to take as much time as she needed to get herself right. While Pavarti didn't want to abuse her boss's generosity, she was genuinely shaken by the incident. Maybe a visit to Hogwarts would be nice after all. Thinking, Pavarti pulled out a quill and began to compose a letter in reply.

Aurora Sinistra basked under the golden Egyptian sun, trailing one hand in her swimming pool while eating dates with the other. After nine dreary months in the mountains of Scotland, she felt recharged by the heat and languor of her native country. The courtyard of her family's home was pleasantly quiet, surrounded on all four sides by cool adobe brick structures. Through the whispering palm trees, Aurora caught snatches of cheerful conversation between her sisters and small nieces and nephews. She absently wondered what was for lunch, but knew better than to ask. She would only be scolded for not offering to help. Let them complain, she thought, I'm on vacation and my sisters can bugger off.

Suddenly, Aurora's peace was disrupted by a loud splash in the pool. She opened her eyes to the sight of her young cousin Mariam enthusiastically paddling over to meet her.

"Aurora!" the little girl exclaimed.

" _Sabā il kẖayr_ , Mariam," Aurora replied, "How was your sleep?"

"Good morning to you too Auntie, _ṣabā in noor_! I had a dream last night, can you tell me what it means?"

Aurora chuckled to herself. "I can try, beautiful, but no one can truly know the meaning in the stars."

"I dreamt I was lying on soft grass, looking at the moon and stars. Then it felt like I was dissolving, and I started to float! It was so strange, I could feel myself disappear but I was still there somehow, or at least part of me was. Soon I turned into a moonbeam, and it was like I wasn't me anymore I was... well I guess I was everything."

"What an interesting dream _Habibi_. what do you think it means?"

Mariam splashed her playfully, "I'm not the professor!"

Well, my little Leo, last night Neptune, the planet of dreams, was treading the same path the Sun laid down at the moment of your birth. Your Leo Sun loves its ego — you know exactly who you are and you can be very proud, like a strong lioness. But Neptune is the planet of Pisces, the very last sign in the zodiac. If you think of the zodiac as the circle of life, Pisces is the final stage, when everything and everyone dissolves and flows back into the sea.

"So what does it mean when Neptune and my sun are kissing?"

Aurora smiled. "A beautiful thought. It means that maybe right now, your sense of self is dissolving." Aurora saw a shadow cross Mariam's pretty face. "That doesn't have to be a bad thing! Neptune takes 164 years to travel around the Sun. You are lucky to have it bless you in this lifetime. Now is a time when you will reflect on this cycle, on all the lives you've lived and people you have been for the past 164 rotations of the sun.

"So I'm special?"

"You were always special Mariam. And you will see that you always have been. Even though you feel of many minds right now, and the ground is unstable underneath you, look up at the sky and follow your heart. When Neptune passes, your spiritual direction will be revealed to you, and you can embark on your next 164-year cycle."

Mariam screwed up her face. "Malik says I am dreaming about being moonbeams because I'm from another planet."

Aurora laughed out loud. "Well, maybe Malik is right. As I said, no one can fully understand the motion of the stars."

Whipping around, Mariam answered a call Aurora had not heard.

"I'm coming, Mum!"

Mariam clambered out of the pool, dripping cold water onto Aurora's skin. She didn't mind, though. She was baked by the sun and ready to sit down to a home-cooked meal in her family's stone-cool abode.

As soon as Aurora stepped inside her mother began to cluck at her. " _Habibi_ you shouldn't lie in the hot sun all day. People go mad in the summer heat."

Aurora shrugged. "It energizes me. Besides, I don't see the sun all year in Scotland."

"Oh, _Scotland_!" Her sister Aliyah called out disparagingly, "Greater-than-thou Britain. I don't understand how you can teach in such an uptight place. Did you hear what your English hero Potter said today?"

"No, what happened?"

"The British Ministry of Magic is demanding that all other ministries hand over their records of registered animagi."

"Ridiculous," scoffed her sister Zara, "as if another country would need to keep track of such a thing. These Western countries are so paranoid; they need to control the whole universe."

"Aurora, does this mean you could get in trouble when you return to teach? Maybe you should register with Britain." her mother asked anxiously.

"I'll do no such thing," Aurora said forcefully. "I'm not afraid of Harry Potter. Besides, the British only regulate animagi because they don't understand them. Very few Britons can access their own animalism, their culture is cerebral to a fault."

"Did you hear about what happened at the International Symposium of Animagi last year?" chimed in her cousin Fatima, "other countries almost started a riot when the Uagadou School Team performed a synchronized transformation."

"I guess they're not used to seeing elephants and cheetahs!" cackled Mariam.

"I suppose so. The wizard who filed the complaint, Adrian Tutley, was an old man who could only become a gerbil."

The women all laughed heartily.

"You girls should all be proud to have graduated from Uagadou. They still lead the world in astronomy and self-transfiguration. After all, Africa is the birthplace of magic and wizarding. Specifically Egypt, so you are doubly blessed."

"We know Mama," said Aliyah, rolling her eyes.

Aurora gave them both a sharp look. "I believe that you'll find that Hogwarts has the best astronomy program now, thanks to my leadership. And don't worry everyone, I promise I'll be careful. I never discuss my personal life with students, and besides, I haven't transformed in years."

Cho Chang stormed out of her house, pausing to catch a breath on a vista overlooking the sea. She angrily slapped a mosquito off her skin, wondering how she could be so miserable in paradise. Eventually, her husband crept up beside her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, which she shook off.

"How can you be so calm about this," she fumed, "our daughter is throwing away her education!"

"There are other schools, Cho. She's so young, there are options."

"Did you hear a word she said? That stubborn little girl isn't going anywhere. Homeschooling! I've never heard of such a thing. And you're just okay with that? Do you feel qualified to teach our daughter? You're not even a wizard!"

Wang Wei winced, and she instantly felt sorry. "You know what I mean," she added weakly.

"You know Cho, all over the world witches and wizards are taught independently. Not everyone is so lucky to be able to attend one of the eleven ancient schools."

"Yes," Cho said, exasperated, "but Turandot is not one of those people. She had a spot at the most prestigious school in Asia and she just—"

"Cho you can't blame a child for being bullied."

"Turandot wasn't expelled for being bullied. She was expelled for being rash. We raised her better than to duel in school. She's barely ten for god's sake!"

"You can't expect your daughter not to defend herself and her people. She's a headstrong girl with a strong sense of justice. I'm proud of her for that."

Cho sighed. "Of course I'm proud of her... but I'm also proud that she has such an instinct for magic. And she was so lucky to be invited to study at Mahoutokoro as young as she did. They only accept a handful of seven-year-olds. I'm sure they would be willing to take her back if we just —"

"Begged them? Cho, I know that you don't understand. But my family's, our family's history with that country... I don't think anyone on these islands would be comfortable prostrating themselves before the Japanese."

Now it was Cho's turn to wince. "I know things were difficult in Hong Kong under the occupation," she said carefully, "but sometimes I think doing the right thing is to swallow your pride."

Wang Wei pulled her in for a hug. "Then God help us and our prideful daughter."

Turandot watched the tiny figures of her parents in the distance, but couldn't tell the tone of their conversation. She was still wearing her Mahoutokoro robes and crushed the fabric anxiously in her fists. She wanted to tear off the uniform but something compelled her to sit in the guilt of her expulsion. At Mahoutokoro, students were given light pink robes in their first year, which gradually deepened in color as they honed their magical abilities. When she violated school rules, however, Turandot's robes had turned a bright white, the color of death. Walking through the front door of her home wearing them had been difficult, and she had hidden her face from her mother in shame.

"Why can't there be a wizarding school in China," she thought angrily, "it isn't fair."

She had told her parents, defiantly, that she had been expelled for defending her Chinese schoolmate from bullying. She hadn't had the heart to admit that the Japanese children at Mahoutokoro had really been making fun of Cho.

"Your mom is a slut for running into Harry Potter's arms while Cedric Diggory was still fresh in the ground. All Chinese women marry white boys then do nothing but cry when they leave them. You're nothing but a race of comfort women."

Turandot didn't know the definition of a concubine, but she did know the spell to knock that boy flat on his backside.

Now her mother was furious, and Turandot was at a loss. She'd told her father many times that she wanted to be raised like he was, learning ancient Chinese magic from the old women of Modao who lived in the temple on the island's peak. She was entranced by her father's world of paper. She could sit for hours watching him make delicate Joss paper models of coins, broomsticks, luxurious robes... anything a wizard could possibly need in the next life. She loved going to the temple and watching families burn her father's figurines, smelling the fragrant white smoke of love and loss.

But Cho was from England, and had strict ideas about what was and wasn't proper witchcraft. Wang Wei told Turandot that in the early years of their marriage, her mother was more respectful of traditional magic, more open-minded. But when it came to her daughter's education, Cho had always been clear. One way or another, Turandot would receive formal magic training.

Slowly, Turandot became aware of a faint tapping sound at the window. Walking over, she was surprised to see the giant storm petrel which had carried her to and from Iwo Jima when she had been a day student at Mahoutokoro. She opened the window and pulled a weather-beaten letter out of his mouth. What new humiliation lay in store?

Turandot opened the letter.

 _Dear Ms. Li,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall_

Turandot looked at the storm petrel, aghast. He cocked his head at her with an unreadable expression.

"Exchanging one enemy for another... what am I going to do now, _pengyou_?"

She looked sadly at her parents, now embracing, and steeled herself for the long year ahead.


End file.
